Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote

Andrea Beaty's Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote is a chapter book for 5 year olds about a class that tries to choose a pet and ends up running a real election.

What happens

Miss Greer tells her class they're getting a class pet. Then she makes the mistake of asking what kind. A buffalo! A giant squid! Hot dogs! A killer shark! Poor Miss Greer has to sit down.

Sofia has the answer. An election! Trouble is, the first vote gives every pet exactly one vote (everybody voted for their own idea). So the class makes a list of rules, holds a second round and ends up with Team Turtle against Team Bird.

Sofia becomes election commissioner. It's her job to keep everything fair.

Then her cousin Marisella shares some news. Her new baby brother keeps sneezing, and he might be allergic to her bird, Pickles. If the class picked Bird, Pickles could come to school. But if Sofia says a word, she could swing the whole vote. What would your reader do?

It's a clever way to show how elections work, with campaigns, posters, speeches and even a class newspaper, and it never feels like a lesson. The newspaper chapter is especially funny, when Miss Greer discovers the stories aren't all exactly true.

Then, at the big count, one vote has vanished.

Abuelo is the best thing in it. He walks Sofia to school every day and has a look for every situation. He bakes orejas (flaky pastries whose name means ears) and tells the same ear joke he's been telling since Sofia was a baby. His hat is covered in badges from all the causes he's stood up for.

Sofia's friends Rosie, Ada and Iggy are in the class too, and each of them gets a moment. The Spanish words sit naturally in the story, and the American ones (second grade, cookies) won't trouble anybody.

It's a proper chapter book with lots of short chapters, so it's probably one to share at first.

What to read next

If they like this crowd, Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters starts with Rosie trying to invent a machine to keep snakes out of her uncle's zoo office. Then her Great-Great-Aunt Rose lands a cheese-copter in the garden.